Pacific Seaways, Seatrade combine Chilean activities

Seatrade, the world largest operator of refrigerated ships, and Pacific Seaways, a group of Chilean fruit exporters, have joined forces to establish Global Reefers NV, which they say will offer "the most efficient service on specialized reefers and container lines from Chile, Peru and Colombia to the world."
The two firms have done business together for more than 20 years, and they say the new company, based in Valparaíso, strengthens their goal of ensuring "reliable, fast, direct and dedicated reefer shipping logistics towards the future."
The new company has a board with equal representation from Seatrade and Pacific Seaways.
Francisco Labarca, current CEO of Pacific Seaways, will serve as managing director of Global Reefers.
He said “the union between these companies is a unique and new way of operating, which will allow the fruit and shipping industries to
work together consolidating the best transport alternatives for Chile’s product. The freezes that have affected our country’s agriculture will seriously impact the Chilean volumes and have once again put in the spotlight the need to coordinate efforts to find more efficient ways of ensuring the adequate size, timing and quantity of good quality reefer ships.”
“Our development goes hand-in-hand with the growth of our customers, and this platform will give us further possibilities to invest in the reefer business,” said Seatrade’s CEO, Yntze Buitenwerf, in a statement.
Pacific Seaways was established in 1980 by a group of Chilean fruit exporters.
Seatrade, based in Antwerp, manages a fleet of over 100 modern specialized reefer vessels.